Multicolor shuttle changing loom



Sept. 15, 1936.

` RIG.' TURNER Y MULTICOLOR SHUTTLE CHANGING LOOM original- Filed sept. 1, 1931 -3 lsheets--sheevc- 1 tw or N NNNLN Sept. 15,1936.- y RQc- 1TURNER .2,054,172

MULT'ICOLOR SHUTTLE cHANGiNG Lo'oM original Filed sept. 1, 1951 s sheets-sheet` 2 Sept. 15, 1936.

R, G. TURNER i MULTICOLOR SHUTTLE CHANGING LOOM f Original Filed Sept. l, 1931 3 Sheecs-Shvee'iI 3 ndentor Richard G .Turner (lttorneg Patented Sept. 15, 1936 Uiiii'iED STATES MUL'rIcoLoR SHUTTLE CHANGING yLo'oM Richard Greenleaf Turner, Worcester, Mass., as-

signor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachu"V setts Application September 1, 1931, Serial No. 560,573 Renewed February 10, 1936 laclaim's. (01.139-232) the shuttle having been derived from the front Y This invention relates to multicolor shuttle changing looms, and it is the general object of the invention to make provision for effecting rapid and complete exchangingY of shuttles. Y

In fancy shuttle-changing looms a magazine is usually employed to furnish shuttles of variously colored wefts, together with a weft detector to initiate transfer. advanced from its stack or cell to an intermediate position from which it is conveyed to themlay. If a changing operation is started and a shuttle moved to intermediate position, but not oo rnpleted due to shuttle misplacement or' failure of the changer, it is necessary to have some provision for ridding the loom of the unchanged shuttle. If this is not done, breakage mayresuit, or a shuttle of the one color might replace a differently colored shuttle on a later pick of the loom. It is an important object of my in ventiontoprovide for expelling an indicated but unchanged shuttle.

In multicolor shuttle changers heretofore proposed there has been a platform common to the different stacks of reserve shuttles on which the shuttle rested momentarily before being moved to the lay. Because of the space requiredfor movement of the platform, the shuttle is dropped a relatively long distance to the lay, in this way lowering the rate at which the loom may be operated. It is an important object of the present invention to eliminate the platform and provide lay carried supports on which theV shuttle falls directly when moving from itsY cell.u The tops of the supports are preferaby concentric with the lay axis, in order to hold the shuttle in substantially the same horizontal position until it is ready to move into the shuttle box. The resulting quicker transfer of the shuttle permits the loom to be operated at a higher rate of speed.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, whereina convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a shuttle changer mechanism having my invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the lay shown in Fig. 1, looking in the direction of arrow 2--2,

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3-73 of Fig. 1 with the untransferred shuttle being moved forwardly, Y

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the manner of ejecting the shuttle from the lay,

The selected shuttle is usually Y cell of the magazine,

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the manner of moving the lowest shuttle from the rear cell of the magazine toward transfer position,

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the shuttle resting on the lay supports, and

Fig. '7 is an end elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1, parts being in section and taken in the direction of arrow l, Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, I have shown a loom frame l@ and a lay Il over one end of which is arranged a multicolor reserve shuttle magazine M. Front, intermediate and rear walls l2, i3 and I4, respectively, dene front and rear compartments F and R, respectively, in which the shuttles are stored as they await transfer, the cells having shuttles of differing characteristics, such as size or color. The front cell feeding mechanism l5 has a shuttle supporting shelf I6 movable about a shaft VIl which also supports a retainer I8 positioned to engage the next to the bottom shuttle in the front stack. A spring I9 arranged as shown in Fig. 1 acts to move the retainer into shuttle holding position Whenever the shelf I6 is moved from under the stack by an upward movement of pull wire 2t, shown in Fig. '7.

A plunger head 2i is located normally behind the bottom shuttle of the rear stack R and may be actuated by a bell crank lever 22 pivoted about a center 23 by a pull rod 2li. The wires 20 and V2li extend downwardly to mechanism not shown herein designed to exert a downward pull, depending upon which shuttle is active and exhausted, so that one or the other of these wires can be given an operative movement to effect an exchange of shuttles. The rear shuttles rest on a shelf 25 and the plunger head is so arranged as to support the upper shuttles of the rear stack when in operation.

The space in front of the rear shuttle and below the front shuttles and designated herein at C is a transfer compartment common to both stacks. The front of the compartment is defined by a movable wall t@ pivoting about an axis 3i against the action of a twist spring 32. The wall is ordinarily so placed as to engage a shuttle in transfer position to place the same for proper movement toward the lay.

VThe lay supportsa box mechanism B having top and bottom shuttle boxes 33 and 34, respectively, which slide along a plate 35 provided with a picker slot Sti. A binder 37 pivoted to the lay independently of the boxes has upwardly and forwardly bent horns 38. The bottom 39 for the top box 33 together with the binder and the wall 35 cooperate with a cover d@ hinged to the mechanism B at 4l tof define the top box. The cover V'has a roller 42 to engagea cam 43 fixed to the pending application Serial No. 460,746.

In carrying my improvements into effect I se- Ycure to the lay a. pair of rearwardly extending supporting fingers 50. These fingers as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 project rearwardly from the boxes and are secured'as shown herein tothe upper part of the box back 35. They may if desired be made `as a part of the `,box back and preferably have uppersurfaces 5l Ywhich are Vconcentric with the Vcenter around which the lay swings. The'fingers or supports lie very close te the plate 25 and extend above the top ,of thecover 40 when the lat- 'ter isk down. VSo far as this last provision is concerned, however, it is sufflcient ifV there is some part of the lay behind the boxes which extends above the cover 40 for a purpose to beset forth hereinafter. .The supports 5f? extend rearwardly 'a suflicient distance to have supporting relation witha shuttle delivered from the compartment ,'C when the lay is in a forward position, such as that vset forth in Fig. 4.

l In operation, a shuttle drawn Vfrom either of the stacks F or R may be moved into the transfer compartment C, preferably latthe time the-lay is in its forward position. The shuttle will immediately V,fall on the supports El), being thus sup-'- ported by the lay. Mechanism not shown herein but set forth in the application.mentioned/hereinbefore will act to raise the box mechanism until the roll Yi2 is in engaging position with the cam Y Subsequent rearward movement of the lay` will lift the cover 4'!! so that the shuttle on the supports, which is held yagainst rearward move- Y:nent by the front `of the plate 25, will pass under Vthe cover. 'Eventually the lay will reach its rear- Inost position toplace the box back 35 eitherin line with or slightly behind the front of Vthe plate 25, whereupon the shuttle will fall into the top box The subsequent forward movement of the lay will pull the roll '42 away from the cam 43 'and the cover will return to its normal down 'or horizontal position, the effect of which is to seat the shuttle on the partition or' floor 39.,

VBecause of thea'cti'on of the fingers 59 supporting the yshuttleV I am enabled to lower the magazine so that the vertical travel of the shuttle from the compartment C into the box -33 is relatively short. By allowing the incoming shuttle to fall directly upon a part carried by thelay I eliminate intermediate supports, which inprior constructions Yhave lengthened the path of travel of the shuttle and have therefore lowered the operating speed of the loom. I find that the lingers set forth herein permit a high speed with more precise movements'on the part of they incoming shuttle. It is to be understood that when theVY normal transfer has resulted in placing a fresh shuttle in the top box 33, the boxes will move downwardly to position the shuttle for pick- 'iria v VVIf for any reason the box mechanism should not rise to take the shuttle on the fingers 5B, it is desirable .to eject the shuttle from the lay.

supporting relation with the shuttle, andthe Y latter will -fall along the box back and onto the cover 40, assuming the position shown at E in Fig. 3. As the lay advances the box back will move the shuttle forwardly against the retainer The latter iscapable under these conditions of swinging forwardly and upwardly far enough to allow the shuttle to pass thereunder and slide Y over the cover, passing through a Vposition shownY at E in Fig; 4, toward a spent shuttle receiver 55. By referring to the last named gure it will Vbe seen that the vdot and dash line 60 which indicates the path of movement of the lowest part of the retainer will rise above the top of the shuttle when the latter is in the dot and dash line position shown at 6 I. TheV untransferred shuttle therefore passes out of control of the retainer before the lay reaches front center. The momentum of the shuttle derived from the lay is sufficient to throw the shuttle forwardly into the container as the lay comes to rest momentarily at front center. V j

It is to be understood that the ejection of the shuttle as set forth in the form of the invention shown herein depends upon'movement of the Yiiicoming shuttle into a position where it can be controlled by the lay even though the box mechanism B fails to rise. In previous constructions the incoming shuttle has rested on an intermediate platform or the like which depended for its actuation uponV the raising of the boxes, so that if the latter failed to rise the shuttle remained on the platform and there was no Way of moving it out of the magazine. As a result ofthese prior constructions it was not possibleV in multicolor work to prevent a confusion of colors, but by the mechanism shown herein any shuttle which is started on thev transferring movement toward the Ylay is certain either to be correctly transferred, or`

will be ejected to prevent confusion of colors.

provided means in a shuttle changer which insures one of twoy actions on the part of a shuttle which starts a transfer motion, either it has a normal transfer, or is lejected from the operating parts of the loom. The normal transfer is allowed to be more rapid by reason of the fact that the shuttle'fallsbn the fingers 5D, and the ejection of an indicated shuttle is rendered possible by vplacing it under control of the lay, this result also being accomplished by letting it fall on the ngers to move with the lay.V It will also be seen that a shuttle which starts from the magazine toward picking position will be ejected if for any reason it fails to reach such position or if it fails to be boxed. By making the surfaces of the fingers or arms on the lay concentric with the lay axis the shuttle may be kept in the same relative position with respect to the magazine and Vlay as the latter swings.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited Vto the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

l. In `a multicolor shuttle changing loom 'operating with a pluralityrof callable shuttles having diverse 'weft and any one of which may become active, a group of reserve shuttles for each calla- "coV ble shuttle, means operative upon substantial exhaustion of weft in any active callable shuttle to initiate replacement of said exhausted shuttle by a shuttle drawn from the correspondinggroup, and mechanism operative during continued running of the loom to eject from the-loom the shuttle drawn from the group should said drawn shuttle fail to replace the exhausted shuttle, to the end that confusion of co-lors will be avoided should another callable shuttle become active.

2. In a multicolor shuttleV changing loom, a lay movable regularly back and forth therein, a plurality of diverse groups of reserve shuttles above the lay, a box on the lay to receive a reserve shuttle, the fro-nt group to be directly over the box and another group behind the box Vwhen the lay is in rearmost position, support means on the lay extending rearwardly from the box to lie under the front group when the lay is Vin a forward position and behind the front but under the other group when the lay is in rearmost position, means effective to deposit a reserve shuttle from any group on the support means when the lay is in a forward position, the support means moving from under a shuttle thereon as the lay moves to rear position and the shuttle thereupon moving intothe box.

3. In a multicolor shuttle changing loom, a lay movable back and forth therein, a plurality of diverse groups of reserve shuttles above the lay, a box on the lay to receive a reserve shuttle, the front group to be directly over the box and another group behind the box when the lay is in rearmost position, support means on the lay extending rearwardly from the box to lie under the front group when theflay is in a forward position and behind the front but under the other group when the lay is in rearmost position, means effective to deposit a reserve shuttle from any group on the support means when the lay is in a forward position, the support means moving from under a shuttle thereon as the lay moves to rear position and the shuttle thereupon moving down in front of the support to be moved forwardly positively by the lay.

4. In a shuttle changing loom, a magazine of reserve shuttles, a regularly moving lay, a receptacle on the lay to receive a shuttle from the magazine, means to release a shuttle from the magazine, and a support on the lay to hold the released shuttle until the receptacle moves under the shuttle, whereupon the latter will move into the receptacle.

5. In a multicolor shuttle changing loom, a magazine having a plurality of groups of diverse shuttles, a lay movable regularly under the magazine, a receptacle on the lay to receive a shuttle from the magazine, means to release a shuttle from any group, and support means on the lay to receive a shuttle released shuttle and hold the same until the receptacle moves into position to receive the shuttle.

6. In a multicolor shuttle changing loom, a magazine having a plurality of Vgroups of diverse shuttles, a lay movable regularly under the magazine, means defining a magazine compartment common to the groups to receive a shuttle drawn from either group, a receptacle on the lay movable under the compartment to receive a shuttle in said compartment, and means positioned during part of the movement of the lay to form part of the compartment and hold a shuttle in said compartment until the receptacle moves under said compartment.

7.,In a multicolor shuttle changing loom, a magazine having a plurality of groups of diverse shuttles, a lay movable regularly under the magazine, means defining a magazine compartment common to the groups to receive a shuttle drawn from'either group, a receptacle on the lay movable under the compartment to receive a shuttle in said compartment, and means carried by and moving with `the lay and positioned during part of the movement of the lay to form part of the compartment and hold a shuttle in said compartment until the receptacle moves under said compartment. 'l

8. In a shuttle changing loom, a magazine of Vreserve shuttles, a regularly moving lay, a receptacle on the lay to receive aA shuttle from the magazine, means to release a shuttle from` the magazine, and a support on the lay having a surface concentric with the axis of the lay to hold the released shuttle until the receptacle moves under the shuttle, whereupon the latter will move into the receptacle.

9. In a shuttle changing loom, a lay movable backwardly and forwardly in a horizontal direction, shuttle box mechanism on the lay movable vertically relatively to the lay, a magazine having a supply of reserve shuttles, a cover for the box mechanism which in normal position has a substantially horizontal smooth upper surface, means to raise the cover at the time of shuttle change to clear the path of a shuttle moving from the magazine into the shuttle box mechanism, and means carried by the lay to impart a forward motion to a shuttle-derived from a magazine and resting on top of the cover should the latter fail to be raised during shuttle change operation to eject the unchanged shuttle over the cover and away from the lay when the lay moves forwardly.

10. In a shuttle changing loom, a lay movable backwardly and forwardly in a horizontal direction, movable shuttle box mechanism on the lay, a magazine having a supply of reserve shuttles, a cover for the box mechanism which in normal position has a substantially horizontal smooth upper surface, means to raise the cover at the time of shuttle change to clear the path of a shuttle moving from the magazine into the shuttle box mechanism, and means carried by the lay to impart a forward motion to a shuttle derived from a magazine and resting on top of the cover should the latter fail to be raised during shuttle change operation to eject the unchanged shuttle forwardly over the cover and away from the lay during forward motion of the lay.

11. In a shuttle changing loom, a lay movable backwardly and forwardly in a horizontal direction and having a surface with a vertical component, shuttle box mechanism, a cover for the box mechanism having a top surface having a horizontal component, said surface of the cover lying below part of the surface having the vertical component on the lay, a reserve shuttle magazine, and means to raise the cover to provide a clear path for a reserve shuttle moving from the magazine into the shuttle box, a shuttle derived from the magazine resting on top of the cover when the latter fails to move to clear the path of the shuttle, said shuttle onthe cover being acted upon by the lay surface having the vertical component to move said unchanged shuttle off the cover by horizontal motion derived from the lay.

12. In a multi-shuttle shuttle changing loom, a lay movable back and forth therein, a magastacks, support fingers on the lay extending rearwardly therefrom, the front stackV of the maga- -z'ine aligning substantially verticallyV with the receptacle when the lay is in rearY position, a Shel-f vfor a 'stack back of the front stack to support a reserve shuttle of 'said back stack, said fingers extending rearwardly to the shelf'whenthe lay i is in forward position, and means to move a re- 'serve Shuttle from said b'aek s'aokfrom the shelf onto the ngers and effective to place such shuttle overy thereceptaole on the lay. Y

13. In a multi-shuttle shuttle changing loom, a :lay'movable back and forth in Vthe loom, a

shuttlev receiving' receptacle4 on the lay, reserve shuttle magazine having front and rear stacks for reserve shuttles', the bottom of the front stack being substantially vertically aligned with the receptacle on the lay when theY latter is in `rearmost position, a shelf under the rear stack to support a shuttle of said rear stack, fingers on the'lay extending rearwardly to be under the front stack at all times and extend to the shelf when the lay is in forward position,Y and'means' to move a reserve shuttle from the rear stack 'along the shelf rand onto the fingers to a position over the receptacle on the layvwhen the latter is in rear position.

RICHARD GREENLEAF TURNER. 

